1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a ceiling-embedded air conditioner that is embedded in a space between a ceiling slab and a ceiling panel. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a ceiling-embedded air conditioner that has a blowoff structure blowing conditioned air from air blowoff openings toward all directions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a ceiling-embedded air conditioner, a box-shaped casing main body is embedded in a space formed between a ceiling slab and a ceiling panel. A square decorative panel is mounted on the lower surface (facing the interior of a room) of the casing main body. In general, an air suction opening is provided in the center of the decorative panel, and air blowoff openings are provided around the air suction opening. The casing main body includes a turbo fan, a heat exchanger surrounding the outer periphery of the turbo fan, and a drain pan disposed under the heat exchanger (for example, refer to Japanese Patent No. 4052264).
In conventional ceiling-embedded air conditioners, however, the air blowoff openings are at four places along the four sides of the decorative panel. The conditioned air having undergone heat exchange is blown from the four sides of the decorative panel but is not blown from the four corners (corner portions). This easily causes uneven room temperatures.
Accordingly, the ceiling-embedded air conditioner disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4052264, air blowoff paths are provided along the entire circumference of the drain pan in the casing. Further, auxiliary blowoff openings are provided at the corner portions of the decorative panel to connect the adjacent ends of the air blowoff openings. Accordingly, the air blowoff openings are disposed in an octagonal ring shape as a whole. This makes it possible to blow air in all directions.
In addition, there has been recently proposed a ceiling-embedded air conditioner with a human sensor (also called human detection sensor) detecting the presence or absence of a human at part of the decorative panel as one of energy-saving measures (for example, refer to JP-A-2011-257112). According to this technique, the air conditioner is stopped or operated at low power in the absence of a human in the sensor monitoring area. This reduces power consumption.